McCarren Play Center
776 Lorimer Street | Williamsburg | built 1936
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1935
Plans are filed for a bath house at McCarren Park built for 6,800 bathers
In August 1935 the Parks Department filed plans for the McCarren Play Center bath house, which had a monumental arched entryway on Lorimer Street and room for 6,800 bathers. Plans for a one-story filter house and a lifeguard station were filed at the same time. The park had been rebuilt earlier in the decade, and newspapers had been reporting on a pool here since 1930.
“Plans for the McCarren Play Center bath house, with its monumental arched entryway at Lorimer Street and its accommodations for 6,800 bathers, were filed in August 1935…”
- 1936
About 75,000 people crowd the opening of the McCarren pool as Mayor LaGuardia lights it
The eighth of that summer's WPA pools to open, the McCarren Play Center welcomed the public on July 31, 1936. About 75,000 people came to the ceremony, the largest of the eleven pool dedications. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and Robert Moses were among the speakers, and LaGuardia turned on the underwater lights. More than 200 police officers kept order while amplifiers carried the ceremony to crowds in the streets and on neighboring rooftops.
“Some 75,000 people attended the opening ceremony of McCarren Play Center, making it the largest public gathering of the eleven pool dedications.”
- 1936
The pool complex is credited to Aymar Embury II, but Joseph Hautman prepared most of the bath house plans
The McCarren Play Center is most often attributed to Aymar Embury II, the Parks Department's consulting architect. The drawings on file for the bath house and filter house were mostly prepared by Joseph L. Hautman. Harry Ahrens drew the ticket booth and the iron gates as well as many bronze details, such as the clocks and much of the exterior lettering. The main pool measures 330 by 165 feet.
“…the majority of the architectural plans and construction drawings ... for the bath house and filter house were prepared by Joseph L. Hautman.”
- 1984
Protesters chain themselves to the pool gates as restoration crews arrive
The Play Center closed at the end of the 1983 season after years of decline, with reports of gangs, unsanitary water and children developing rashes. When contractors came in summer 1984 to start a restoration, protesters chained themselves to the entrance gates and demanded the project be reconsidered. The restoration never took place, and the complex sat vacant and decaying through years of debate.
“When contractors showed up to begin the restoration of the complex in the summer of 1984, a group of protestors had chained themselves to the entrance gates…”
- 2005
Choreographer Noemie LaFrance stages the dance piece Agora in the empty pool
In 2005 the choreographer Noemie LaFrance asked to stage a large site-specific dance in the derelict pool. The city set aside money to clean up the site and stabilize the bath house for a public event, and two neighborhood firms, Ron Delsener Presents and Sens Productions, added funds. The work included clearing the pool deck, putting new stucco inside the arch and painting over graffiti. Her piece, Agora, ran from September 13 to October 1, and the public saw the complex for the first time in over 21 years. Its popularity turned the pool into a venue for concerts and film screenings.
“The performance, titled "Agora," took place from September 13 through October 1, and the McCarren Play Center was seen by the general public for the first time in more than 21 years.”
- 2007
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the McCarren Play Center a landmark
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the McCarren Play Center on July 24, 2007, after a hearing on January 30 where fourteen witnesses spoke for designation. They included Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and representatives of several preservation groups. Several speakers also backed the wider effort to designate all of the WPA-era pools.
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